Jordan: Cash Handouts Amidst Reforms

Jordan’s cabinet on 16 January finalized the disbursement mechanism for JD171mn ($242mn at the fixed JD1 =$1.4) in cash subsidies to poorer Jordanians a key element of the JD789mn ($1.11bn) allocated in the 2018 budget for social welfare.

The efforts are intended to compensate some 6.2 million Jordanians for the rise in the cost of living with the ending of bread subsidies and increases in the price of some 72 food items previously exempt from import duties.